


I hope that you catch me (cause I'm already falling)

by SJAandDWfan



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, Gen, Minor Laura/Danny but it would probably be unfair to tag it as such
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-27
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-03 18:36:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2862002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SJAandDWfan/pseuds/SJAandDWfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In first year, Laura Hollis is sorted into Gryffindor, along with five other eleven year old girls, and maybe five or six boys. The sorting hat tells her she could also have been a Hufflepuff, but that it senses a lion’s courage within her. And since Laura is a muggle-born, and so knows next to nothing about the Hogwarts houses, she blindly tells the sorting hat to go with its gut. Figuratively speaking. She sits at the Gryffindor table and watches as a young girl (McGonagall reads her name as “Karnstein, Carmilla”) with dark hair and an even darker expression on her face stomps up to the rickety old school.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> Something I made up as I went along and had no idea I was even going to write until I did. Bit late for Christmas but it's not a strictly Christmas fic.
> 
> Title from "Arms" by Christina Perri

In first year, Laura Hollis is sorted into Gryffindor, along with five other eleven year old girls, and maybe five or six boys. The sorting hat tells her she could also have been a Hufflepuff, but that it senses a lion’s courage within her. And since Laura is a muggle-born, and so knows next to nothing about the Hogwarts houses, she blindly tells the sorting hat to go with its gut. Figuratively speaking.

She sits at the Gryffindor table and watches as a young girl (McGonagall reads her name as “Karnstein, Carmilla”) with dark hair and an even darker expression on her face stomps up to the rickety old school. The sorting hat announces her as a Slytherin, and the girl’s eyebrow quirks as she notices the green-and-silver table cheer for her. She doesn’t smile, as so many before her do; she simply stands up and makes her way to the Slytherin table. The only discernible difference is that she wears a slightly less dark expression.

Laura sees LaFontaine, a person she’d formed a tentative friendship with on the train, sorted into Ravenclaw (sees the bright smile, too), which is quickly followed by Danny Lawrence (very tall and with very red hair) sorted into Gryffindor. Laura cheers with the rest of the table. This Danny girl seems like a nice person.

A few names later, Lola Perry (LaFontaine’s friend who had brought snacks in Tupperware boxes and had graciously shared some with Laura) is sorted into Hufflepuff. She looks happy enough with her house, but Laura still sees her send a crestfallen look in LaFontaine’s direction. Laura likes to think she sees things about people that others miss, but even at the tender age of eleven, she misses the look the dark-haired girl (Karnstein, Carmilla) sends her from the Slytherin table.

That particular dynamic of Carmilla-and-Laura becomes a running joke amongst Laura’s friends around their fourth year.

……….

In their very first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Cochrane asks them to get into pairs. There are roughly twenty Gryffindor and Slytherin students in the class, and the resulting rush of bodies is quite overwhelming, to say the least. Before she drowns in the sea of people, Danny Lawrence grabs hold of her wrist. The tall girl looks hopefully at her.

“Partners?” She asks with a shrug and a smile.

Laura nods gratefully, and they find a table together without further question.

As it turns out, there are twenty-one students in the class, and the girl with the dark hair and the darker expression sits sullenly by herself in the corner until Professor Cochrane notices and announces she’ll be her partner.

Carmilla Karnstein burns holes in the floor with her eyes and says nothing.

……….

On the final day of her first year, Laura sits with Danny and a couple of other Gryffindors as they are announced the winners of the House Cup. She cheers and feasts with the rest of them, and on the way back to King’s Cross Station, she grabs a carriage with Danny, LaFontaine and Perry. They eat far too many sweets and laugh as Danny chases Brody Kirsch away from where he’d been eavesdropping outside the door, and Laura loves Hogwarts.

……….

Second year passes much quicker than first year, and Laura finds herself with more homework and less time in which to do it. She often spends her evenings in the library now, and that’s when she first notices Carmilla sitting in a corner by herself. She’s reading a dusty old book that’s too heavy for her to hold up, so she’s leaning over the table, her hair spilling over the yellowing pages and hiding her face from Laura.

She looks lonely.

After a few instances of staying where she is, one night Laura moves to sit opposite Carmilla. The dark-haired girl looks up in surprise, but that particular expression is temporary, soon replaced by narrowed eyes and a huff of annoyance.

“Hi,” Laura whispers, undeterred by Carmilla’s stony silence. She gets no response except an arched eyebrow, and Laura decides against saying anything more, and instead does her Charms homework for ten minutes before the silence becomes stifling (which is strange, considering they’re in a library) and she makes a show of rolling up the scroll and gathering her things together.

She sneaks a glance at Carmilla, but the other girl doesn’t even look up.

She doesn’t try talking to Carmilla again, and starts doing her homework in the Gryffindor common room instead.

……….

On her fourteenth birthday in the October of her third year, Perry gives her a truly alarming quantity of brownies (“She made them herself,” LaFontaine says proudly, looking at Perry with something like adoration), LaFontaine gives her some cool stuff from Zonko’s, and Danny gives her some Unicorn tail hair she found at the edge of the forest and some muggle sweets she’d been hiding since the Summer holidays.

These are the things she tells anyone, if they ask her.

She leaves out the part where later in their dorm room, Danny said she had one more present, and then gave Laura her first kiss. (She still doesn’t know how she feels about that).

……….

Laura absolutely adores Christmas, especially with her father, which is why the Christmas in her third year seems as though it will be a let-down. She can’t go home this year – none of them can – due to the extremely adverse weather conditions at Hogwarts. Not even McGonagall will do anything magical about it, so it must be bad.

Still, she has her friends, so it could be worse.

The castle gets really quite festive in the lead up to Christmas day. Holly adorns most of the doors and some of the walls, they brew Christmassy-themed potions and learn some cool new charms. When term officially ends, Laura spends most of her time in the library again (pointedly avoiding sitting near Carmilla, who looked up in shock the first time Laura came in again but quickly masked it in indifference). She reads a lot after she gets the initial homework out of the way, and steadily works her way through many Charms-related textbooks (it’s her favourite subject) before on Christmas Eve LaFontaine persuades her to go to a party instead.

“Don’t you think the teachers will be against a party organised by students?” Laura questions her friend.

LaFontaine scoffs, “Of course not.”

“Do they know?”

“Nope.”

This pulls a heady laugh from Laura, and she looks at her friend fondly. LaFontaine might be her best friend (even though Perry and LaF are joined at the hip), and that friendship had only been strengthened once LaF took a deep breath and told Laura of their pronouns. Something inside Laura had hurt at the scared look on LaFontaine’s face as they shakily explained how they wished to be referred to, and she had wrapped her friend in a tight hug. (“Of course I will, LaF,” she’d promised, “Thank you for trusting me.”)

Once they get to the party, Perry bustles over, looking highly displeased and informing Laura and LaFontaine that the both of them were late.

“Sorry, Perr,” LaF says, and puts on their best puppy-dog eyes, which break whatever ice had been there in record time.

Danny soon joins them, and hovers by Laura for most of the night with anxious eyes until Laura finally gives up on hoping Danny will tell her what’s wrong and ends up asking her herself.

“Are things weird?” is the first thing Danny says.

Laura scrunches up her nose in confusion. “Why would they be?” she asks.

Danny huffs. “Come on, Laura.” She says, “I kissed you and we haven’t talked about it. Ever.”

“Oh,” Laura says, mainly because she doesn’t know what else to say, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Danny shrugs, and that itches Laura slightly, but she brushes it off.

“I thought you were just giving me my first kiss because you knew I’d been stressing about it,” Laura tells her, and Danny bites her lip before shaking her head.

“No. Well, partly. I knew you were stressed about it, but I also just wanted to kiss you, if that makes any sense.” Danny flatly refuses to meet her eyes, instead staring at a point far over Laura’s head.

“Oh,” says Laura again.

“Do you want to kiss me?” Danny asks after a few seconds of silence.

Laura is taken aback by the question, but finds herself answering truthfully. “I don’t think so.”

Danny still isn’t looking at her, but she smiles tightly. “That’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, Danny. You’re my friend, and I don’t ever want that to change, but…”

“No, it’s fine. We don’t have to talk about it,” Danny says, and Laura knows their conversation is over. She excuses herself to get refreshments, and blows out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

It dawns on her at the refreshments table that Danny had all but confessed feelings for her and was now dealing with what was probably the first rejection of her life. Laura winced at that word. Rejection. It sounded so harsh, and she didn’t want to be a harsh person. She had genuinely thought Danny was just trying to be a good friend by taking the pressure of her first kiss off her shoulders. She hadn’t even considered any slightly selfish motives Danny had.

Suddenly, she needed to not be there anymore. Making a mental note to apologise to all three of them later, she makes a dash for the exit. Not looking where she was going, Laura is unaware of the person in front of her in the doorway until they both go crashing to the floor.

“Sorry,” she groans, “I’m really clumsy and I get tunnel vision sometimes.”

“No shit,” is the reply she gets, and Laura looks up in horror to see herself tangled with Carmilla Karnstein on the flagstone floor.

“I’m really sorry, Carmilla, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” Laura apologises again, and she would go on if not for the sudden whoop that distracts her.

Laura twists around to see Kirsch looking excitedly in her their direction, pointing to something above them. Laura follows to where everyone is now looking and feels her pulse increase and the blood rush to her face. Mistletoe.

She doesn’t even look at Carmilla before she’s on her feet, bolting from the room as fast as she can. She does not need this tonight.

……….

Fourth year rolls around and Danny decides she’s going to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Things between her and Laura have thankfully returned to normal, and so Laura happily goes along to cheer her on at tryouts.

She makes it in as a chaser, unsurprisingly, and spends most of her night listening to Danny chatter excitedly about rehearsal schedules and the first match against Hufflepuff the very next month. She’s so relieved that things are back to normal that she doesn’t even mind the lack of sleep.

……….

In January, Professor Cochrane tells them they now have to work with a different partner. (“You know each other’s tactics too well now”) and so Danny splits off to work with a boy from Gryffindor while Laura scans the room for potential partners. She’s too late for the big rush – some things never change – and by this time there are two people left; both Slytherins.

She can either work with a sweaty boy with a piggy face and cruel eyes, or Carmilla.

She walks over to the dark-haired girl, who regards her like a feral cat would (with distrust and wariness) and tentatively asks if she wants to be partners.

“Well, it’s either you or Pig-Farts over there, so I guess you’re the marginally better option,” Carmilla drawls, but there’s a joke in there somewhere and Laura sighs in relief.

……….

Working with Carmilla is more difficult than Laura thought it would be. The other girl isn’t chatty, for starters, and merely shrugs off Laura’s attempts at conversation. She’s engrossed in the work when she’s not making paper aeroplanes and enchanting them to fly around the classroom to target Danny’s head. Laura finds this frustrating, and her proximity to Carmilla certainly doesn’t help.

It’s something Laura hasn’t noticed before, having not spent much time around Carmilla, but the dark-haired girl is extremely distracting up close. Laura spends more time than she’s willing to admit stealing glances at Carmilla’s face before firmly looking away before she’s caught.

……….

It isn’t until the end of fourth year that someone (LaF, she thinks) asks Laura why she Carmilla keeps staring at her. They and Perry have snuck over to the Gryffindor table and LaF happened to glance over Laura’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry, what?” Laura asks, honestly confused. “She doesn’t stare at me.”

LaF raises an eyebrow as they look behind Laura again to the Slytherin table. Sure enough, they catch the tail end of Carmilla’s glance before it turns into a glare.

“I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about,” Laura says, and LaF snorts. Perry elbows them gently and murmurs, “Sweetie, leave Laura alone,” and now it’s Laura’s turn to raise her eyebrows because _sweetie_? Really?

……….

Fifth year is stressful, above all else. With her OWLs looming ever closer, Laura again spends most of her time at her favourite table in the library with three or more textbooks open at once on the desk. She knows that she’s starting to worry her friends, but she just really wants to ace her exams (she’s not sure her friends realise the importance of these exams).

There’s also Carmilla. Even though LaF keeps insisting the dark-haired girl is staring at her twenty-four/seven, Laura has yet to catch her in the act. For some reason, she’s also finding it difficult to look away from Carmilla. They’re still partners in Defence Against the Dark Arts, and lately she’s found the gap between their elbows to crackle with electricity. Not literally, of course (that would be absurd. Electricity at Hogwarts?), but still – it makes her shift uncomfortably in her seat.

It strikes Laura that even at fifteen (sixteen? She doesn’t know when Carmilla’s birthday is) Carmilla is very beautiful, especially up close.

Laura doesn’t really know when exactly she started thinking of Carmilla as beautiful. She tries not to question it.

……….

Perry makes the announcement to Laura and Danny that she and LaFontaine are dating just before they are due to take their OWLs, and LaF blushes from their place at Perry’s side and hides their face in her hair. Laura couldn’t be happier for them.

(Her spirits are lifted even more when Carmilla wishes her a quiet “good luck” as she’s about to go in for her Defence Against the Dark Arts practical exam.)

………..

(She passes all of her exams with flying colours, to nobody’s surprise.)

……….

Sixth year is excellent, Laura thinks. She gets free periods (although few are with her friends) and the courses are challenging her in the best possible way. She finds that in Defence Against the Dark Arts, when given the opportunity to trade partners, Carmilla declines and says she’d prefer to stick with Laura. It gives Laura more of a rush than it should to hear her name fall from Carmilla’s lips.

She and Carmilla have been conversing more, actually. The other girl seems much more relaxed around her, although the tenseness returns with the arrival of any of Laura’s friends. But for the most part, they get on quite well. Laura even catches Carmilla looking at her a few times, which she proudly reports back to LaF about. They offer a grin and an “I told you so” in return.

(“It doesn’t mean anything,” Laura says with a shrug, and LaF shakes their head. “ _Honestly_ ,” they sigh, “You’re a lost cause, Hollis”)

……….

She slips up with Carmilla occasionally. One time Laura accidentally calls Carmilla her friend, and the other girl sits rigid in her seat, looking at Laura with that same wary expression she wore back before they ever talked. Laura apologises immediately, and Carmilla looks like she’s about to say something, but decides against it at the last second.

Nevertheless, they slowly but surely begin to hang out together in their free periods (they have a lot of shared ones) and Laura finds that not only is Carmilla now startlingly beautiful, she’s also really interesting to listen to. The dark-haired girl speaks of philosophers with a passion that can only be matched with Laura’s excitement about Christmas.

(She really tries not to think of Christmas three years ago; of bolting from under the mistletoe and leaving Carmilla in her dust.)

……….

“Carm, can you pass me that book? I can’t quite reach it.”

They’re in the library (again), between the stacks, and Laura’s stretched up on her toes trying to ease a book off the shelf. The name slips out of her mouth without permission, and Laura freezes, bracing for Carmilla’s reaction.

“Here you go, shortstack,” Carmilla replies, handing her the heavy book.

“Sorry,” Laura squeaks.

Carmilla’s brow scrunches, and Laura holds her breath because this expression makes her look so _cute_.

“What for?”

“I called you ‘Carm’, and I’m sorry. I know you don’t like it when people call you anything other than your actual name-“

“Relax, cutie,” Carmilla says, and is she smirking? Laura isn’t sure.

Carmilla looks down. “I don’t mind you doing it.”

Laura’s smile feels like it’s going to split her face in half.

……….

The first time she hugs Carmilla is a complete accident. Kind of.

It’s the Christmas of her sixth year, and this year she’s actually made the voluntary decision to stay at Hogwarts during the winter holidays. She’s just finished unwrapping her presents her friends left her and heads down to the Great Hall for breakfast. There’s only one table set up (ninety percent of the students had gone home) and halfway through her breakfast Carmilla slides onto the bench next to her and places a small parcel on the table before returning her hands to her lap.

Laura smiles widely at the other girl and opens the parcel to reveal a box. She looks inside and her jaw drops at the silver necklace with a little lioness dangling from the chain. She looks over at Carmilla and before she can stop herself she flings her arms around Carmilla’s neck and buries her face in thick, dark hair.

“Thank you, Carm, it’s beautiful,” she breathes out.

Suddenly, she becomes aware that Carmilla might not like being hugged and she draws away quickly. Carmilla is indeed looking slightly shell-shocked, and Laura tucks a lock of hair behind her ear self-consciously.

“Will you put it on me?” Laura asks shyly, and Carmilla nods, the closest thing she’s ever seen to a smile gracing the other girl’s lips. Laura lifts the necklace out of the box and hands it to her friend (Carmilla _has_ to be a friend by now, doesn’t she?). Carmilla fastens it in place and Laura turns back to face her.

“I feel like my present to you isn’t going to match up to that,” Laura admits.

All Carmilla does is blink at her. “You got me a present?”

Something inside Laura aches sadly at hearing that.

……..

Carmilla regards the green and silver sweater with amusement and a little bit of awe, holding it up against her front.

“You made this?” She asks, and Laura nods.

“I’ve been knitting it over the last month. I guessed the measurements a little, though.”

Carmilla is already slipping the garment over her head and pulling it down. It looks ridiculous when paired with her leather pants, but Carmilla seems happy with it.

“I love it,” she says, and Laura beams.

“Even though it ruins your street cred?”

Carmilla laughs, and it’s a wonderful sound.

“Yes. Even though it ruins my street cred.”

……….

Sometimes things come full circle, Laura thinks, and things are just meant to be the way they are.

Because it has to mean something that Laura trips on her way back to her dorm room and Carmilla catches her in the middle of the hallway, directly beneath a sprig of mistletoe.

For a moment, Laura considers legging it again, just like she had as a fourteen year old, back when the first words Carmilla had ever spoken to her were “No shit”. Then she thinks that no, she can’t run because that would be rude. And because an ever-growing part of her wonders what it would be like to kiss Carmilla.

It’s not a thought she’s been consciously aware of until very recently. She knows that she finds girls attractive. She knows she doesn’t find boys attractive. She’s aware of the implications that has. She’s also aware that she finds Carmilla herself especially attractive, but it wasn’t until a short while ago that she’d put two and two together.

She’d talked to LaF and Perry about it one day before they left for Christmas, and they had both told her to go with her instincts when it came to Carmilla.

(“You’re literally the only person she doesn’t have a glare reserved for” LaF had said when Laura wondered aloud if Carmilla found her attractive, “I think it’s safe to say she likes you”. Perry had looked at LaF with stars in her eyes and the conversation had pretty much ended there.)

So Laura doesn’t run. But she doesn’t make any moves either. Carmilla still has her arms around her and her eyes are searching Laura’s own. Laura sees apprehension in Carmilla’s expression, and before she can do anything about it Carmilla’s leaning down and to the side to press her lips briefly against Laura’s cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Laura,” she says, and loosens her grip.

Laura feels cold where Carmilla’s arms used to be and it’s that fact that helps her make up her mind. As Carmilla turns to leave, Laura tugs on the sweater and pulls Carmilla even closer. There’s a full five seconds of silence and stillness in which Laura gives Carmilla the opportunity to break away before she whispers, “You call that a kiss?” and leans up to capture her lips.

Carmilla is surprised, that much is clear, but it doesn’t take long for her lips to start moving against Laura’s and _wow_ her lips are softer than Laura was expecting. Carmilla’s hands move to tangle in Laura’s hair and she’s tingling from the contact even as she presses closer still to the other girl.

The kiss is searing. Now that Carmilla’s got her bearings, it becomes apparent how good of a kisser she is, and Laura is getting a bit light-headed from the lack of oxygen but at the same time she never wants to stop. Laura feels herself go a bit weak when Carmilla’s tongue traces her bottom lip, and she parts her lips slightly under the ever-so-gentle pressure.

There is something highly addictive about Carmilla’s lips, Laura decides, as she finally breaks the kiss, eyes still closed as she draws back. Carmilla’s hands are still in her hair, and Laura’s hands are still gripping the wool of Carmilla’s sweater.

“Wow,” is all she can say as her eyes finally open to see Carmilla looking at her in amazement.

“My thoughts exactly,” Carmilla murmurs, and then she cracks a smile. “We should have done this back in third year.”

“Oh, God,” Laura groans, her head bumping against Carmilla’s, “I didn’t know you remembered that.”

“Of course I did,” Carmilla says, wrapping her arms around Laura’s neck and meeting her gaze dead-on, “When the girl you’ve had a crush on since she said ‘hi’ to you in the library in second year leaves you under the mistletoe in front of a crowd of people, it’s a memory you can never really shake.”

“I’m so sorry,” Laura holds on to Carmilla even tighter, “I panicked.”

There’s a pause where Carmilla simply smiles at her, until:

“Wait. You’ve had a crush on me since second year?”

“’Fraid so, cutie,” Carmilla says softly.

“I thought you hated me! You completely ignored me.” Laura’s confused.

Carmilla just shrugs. “I didn’t know what to say, so I just didn’t say anything. Trust me to fall for the cutest, most oblivious girl in the history of Hogwarts.”

Laura scoffs, “Shut up.”

Carmilla’s eyes sparkle devilishly. “Make me.”

Laura kisses her soundly to stop herself from laughing at Carmilla’s predictability. She knows they’ll have to talk properly at some point soon, but that can wait for a while.

Yes, Carmilla is definitely addictive, Laura thinks. Entirely too much for her own good.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to write a shorter chapter just exploring Laura and Carmilla's relationship a bit, because I felt like I wasn't quite done with them yet. So just in time for the New Year (for me anyway), here it is!
> 
> Oh, and thank you so much to everyone who bookmarked it, or left kudos and comments; they mean the world to me. And yes, WeAreAllStories, that was a Starkid reference in chapter one!

Instead of talking about what this means for them, Laura spends an embarrassingly long time making out with Carmilla underneath the mistletoe. In fact, they only stop when Professor McGonagall happens to walk by, stops, and clears her throat loudly. The sound registers somewhere in Laura’s mind and she breaks away from Carmilla with a start.

There’s silence for a moment as Laura looks at McGonagall with a deer-in-the-headlights expression, then to Carmilla – who is trying and failing to contain a smirk – and finally back to McGonagall.

“While I appreciate your enthusiasm for the holidays, ladies, I believe you are – as the cool kids would say – hogging the mistletoe.” McGonagall says, and Laura groans, her face flushing.

“Sorry, Professor,” Carmilla manages through her snickering, “we’ll be on our way.”

Still sniggering, Carmilla joins their hands and pulls Laura away and down the corridor, tugging her around the nearest corner and into an alcove.

Laura sucks in a breath at their proximity, though that’s perhaps a bit strange given that she’s just spent at least five or ten minutes with her tongue in Carmilla’s mouth. Either way, she’s getting butterflies from the way Carmilla’s looking at her, like she’s hungry and completely satisfied at the same time.

“You okay, Laura?” Carmilla asks, and Laura thrills at hearing her name from the other girl’s mouth.

“Yeah,” she breathes, already getting distracted by Carmilla’s hair cloaking both of them in the tight space, by the light dusting of pink in her cheeks, by her dark eyes as they bore into Laura’s own. “I’m okay, but I think we were interrupted just now…”

Carmilla smiles gently and leans in once again.

……….

“So we should probably talk now, huh?”

It’s a while later and they’re still in the alcove, though how Laura’s legs haven’t given out yet is beyond her, seeing as Carmilla has been kissing her senseless. Currently, they’re resting their foreheads together and the question is whispered into Laura’s mouth. It strikes her that even counting how they’ve spent the last several ( _several_ ) minutes, this is probably the most intimate position she’s ever been in.

She nods, and presses a last chaste kiss to Carmilla’s lips, just because she can’t resist, before Carmilla draws away to a slightly less distracting distance.

“As you now know, I’ve liked you for a long time,” Carmilla begins, “and I really hope I’m not reading this the wrong way because it seems as though you like me too…” The statement almost turns into a question, and Laura thinks this version of Carmilla – the unsure, blushing girl in the knitted sweater – is completely adorable. She nods as confirmation, unable to help the bashful grin on her face.

“Of course I do, Carm. I mean, I didn’t really put two and two together until we were under the mistletoe earlier and I started thinking that maybe I really didn’t want to run.”

“Again.” Carmilla supplies helpfully, but she’s smiling.

“Yeah, again. Sorry. Again.” Laura looks at the ground. “But I suppose, looking back, that I’ve been drawn to you for a while. I just didn’t know why.”

Carmilla breathes out, her relief palpable.

“Good,” she says, “because if I’d asked you to be my girlfriend and you’d replied that you were only in it for the holiday cheer or something – “

“Wait,” Laura’s brain is slow to catch up, “you’re asking me to be your girlfriend?”

“I mean, if you want to. It’s completely your choice, of course, I would never make you do anything you’re even remotely uncomfortable with… and I’m assuming the laughter is because of my rambling and isn’t necessarily a bad sign.”

“Of course I’ll be your girlfriend,” Laura says between giggles, “you’re so cute when you ramble. But rambling is my thing so I’m gonna have to stop you doing that right now.”

Carmilla seems to know the kiss is coming, and her hands come up to cup Laura’s face as their lips meet again. _I’m kissing my girlfriend,_ Laura thinks, and that thought makes her press even closer to Carmilla, licking at the seam of her lips until the other girl parts them with a moan.

Laura decides she likes making Carmilla moan. A lot.

……….

Perry and LaFontaine are thrilled for them, to say the least.

“Called it!” LaF yells excitedly, as soon as they see Laura and Carmilla’s joined hands when they come back after Christmas. Perry tells them to calm down, but if the way she smiles at Laura – and even Carmilla – is any indication, she’s just as happy they’re happy. LaF says something about how glad they are that Carmilla “got her shit together and went for it” because apparently the last few years have been “truly something to witness” and “embarrassing to see Carmilla acting like a love-sick puppy around you, Laura”.

Carmilla looks less than pleased with the puppy comparison, but Laura puts a hand on her knee under the table and she softens considerably.

Danny is less pleased – not particularly because of any lingering feelings for Laura – but just because she doesn’t like Carmilla anyway. She gives the dark-haired girl the whole “if you hurt her” speech, which is met by a truly alarming amount of eye-rolling from Carmilla before she finally says anything.

“Relax, giraffe” – Danny bristles at this nickname – “I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of hurting Laura. I… I really like her, okay?”

Laura bites her own lip to keep from biting Carmilla’s, and settles for kissing her girlfriend on the cheek, which Carmilla accepts with a contented smile.

“Whipped!” Danny says around a cough, and Carmilla’s eyes narrow.

“Watch it, or I’ll set my cat on you,” she warns Danny, who holds her hands up in mock surrender.

……….

Carmilla seems to love taking Laura out on dates. It doesn’t matter where or when, as soon as Carmilla offers her hand, Laura takes it without a second thought and allows herself to be led to tonight’s destination, wherever that may be.

One of Laura’s favourite dates is actually one they both come up with. Laura suggests that she might like to take a walk around the grounds with Carmilla, and her girlfriend agrees almost instantly.

“On one condition,” she says, when Laura tackles her in a hug, “I want to look at the stars for a while, if that’s okay with you.”

“Of course it is, Carm. That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Laura says softly. She knows Carmilla likes the stars; she always says she likes how they make whatever problems she has seem small.

So that’s what they do. They meet after dusk and sneak out of the castle through a passageway Laura found the previous year. As soon as they’re outside, Carmilla holds out her hand to Laura, wiggling her fingers for emphasis, and Laura gladly laces their fingers together as they start walking.

Their progress around the grounds is slow – they’re really not in a hurry, after all – and when they reach a suitable patch of grass, Carmilla tugs on her hand and sits herself down. This quickly turns into lying side-by-side on the grass, with Carmilla pointing out the many constellations she’s learnt through her years of reading.

This eventually turns into lazily kissing, with Laura bracing her hands on either side of Carmilla’s head and Carmilla’s in Laura’s hair. She likes to tangle her fingers in Laura’s hair, both of them have noticed. When she asks, Carmilla says that it helps to keep her grounded. When the only response she gets is a confused stare, Carmilla clarifies that running her hands through Laura’s hair keeps them from travelling. Carmilla delivers this particular gem of a line with a suitable smouldering look, and Laura blushes.

(“What?” Carmilla defends herself, “You’re really hot, okay?”)

……….

She and Carmilla argue, of course. They argue about ridiculously petty things like Carmilla’s fondness for leaving hickies on Laura’s neck (although Laura secretly loves Carmilla biting and sucking the marks into her skin, she just doesn’t love the teasing she gets for it when she forgets her red-and-gold striped scarf). They argue about who pays on dates (Carmilla is very chivalrous for a Slytherin, Laura discovers). They argue about Carmilla’s birthday (Laura is actually very smug that she’s a few months older than her girlfriend) and just how many gifts is too many.

But with the arguments and the occasional sulk come some truly epic make-ups and reconciliations.

Like the kiss in the middle of the Quidditch pitch after Gryffindor defeat Slytherin at the start of February and Carmilla is grumpy for all of two minutes after the crowd pour onto the pitch at the final whistle. She pouts and crosses her arms at Laura’s cheerful expression, and Laura simply rolls her eyes and pulls Carmilla forward by her scarf until their lips crash together. By the time she pulls back, Carmilla’s eyes are still closed and her lips still slightly apart, and she appears to physically have to remind herself to breathe.

“That was so not fair,” she breathes, after opening her eyes. Laura just smiles smugly.

“All’s fair in love and war, _cutie_ ,” she quips, and then her eyes widen at the realisation of what she’s just implied. Carmilla catches on quickly, and a shy smile tugs at her lips.

“Is that so?” She says, and God, she’s positively _purring_ and it’s Laura’s turn to forget how to breathe.

“Yeah,” she nods, reaching out for Carmilla’s hand and lacing their fingers together, her breath catching at the look in Carmilla’s eyes.

……….

The first time they sleep together is on Valentine’s Day, fittingly enough, and Carmilla really goes all out with the decoration. Having stumbled upon the Room of Requirement back in her third year, Carmilla makes sure to get there first, before anyone else comes up with the same idea. Laura meets her there to find a warmly-lit small room with a bed and a fireplace, and a lingerie-clad Carmilla sitting there waiting for her.

“Happy                 Valentine’s day, love,” is all she says, and gives her a wicked grin.

Afterwards, as they’re curled up together under the covers, Carmilla links their fingers together and kisses her knuckles with something like reverence.

“Was that okay?” She asks quietly.

“It was perfect, Carm. _You’re_ perfect, and I love you so much.” Laura sighs happily, cuddling closer to Carmilla’s warm skin.

It’s the first time she’s said it outright; there was that indirect time after the Quidditch match, and after then it kind of went unsaid, but the words slip out so easily in this moment that Laura doesn’t even think twice about saying them.

“I love you too, Laura,” Carmilla whispers, “So very much.”

……….

(Of course, not every time is as slow and careful as the first time. Sometimes, they’re in a rush, or in the astronomy tower where anyone could potentially walk in. Sometimes it’s after a fight, and so it’s tinged with roughness, but never discomfort. Sometimes Carmilla just pounces on her – or vice-versa – and those times are probably Laura’s favourites.)

(Who is she kidding? They’re all her favourites, because they’re all with Carmilla.)


End file.
